What’s all the fuss about Twitter?

Twitter is everywhere, but despite the noise, it is still in its early adopter stage and many businesses don’t yet understand it – much less exploit it. This month, we provide a guide to this global phenomenon.

1.  Try it! 2.  Be selective about who you follow: it is easy to get overwhelmed by too many updates 3.  Use Twitter search to find updates on topics that interest you 4.  Have a plan. Decide what your goals are and tweet accordingly 5.  Have fun - it’s allowed, even in business!

What is Twitter?
Twitter is micro-blogging, 
which is like text messaging on-line. Posts are limited to 140 characters and can be about absolutely anything.

You can highlight websites and blog posts that interest or amuse you, pass on news or simply say what you are doing - however mundane it might seem. Users ‘follow’ people who interest them and over time, accumulate a bank of followers themselves.

Why?
Why you would want to spend time putting short updates on the internet about what you are doing and reading similar meanderings from others is the great question for non-users. 

For businesses, it is experimental, but our view is that Twitter has great potential as a brand builder and businesses should be taking part. The power and excitement lies in its viral nature.

As a business, you can build your reputation by discussing a topic and sharing links to sites of interest; you can network to get new contacts, get answers to questions and, by following people you respect, be quickly informed of news and opportunities in your industry.

People tend not to promote products and services overtly, but there is no reason why you shouldn’t highlight a special offer or new items just in. As we say, it is experimental, so there are no real rules yet.

Critics dismiss Twitter as a waste of time and indicative of not having enough real work to do. We think this misses the point and the potential. Twitter is fun and it is addictive, but if you have a strategy and integrate it with the rest of your marketing, the benefits are significant...and free!

Give it a go and find out for yourself. You can follow us on @themarketingeye.

We have been using Twitter at The Marketing Eye for about 6 months and have gathered a good level of practical experience which we are happy to share. 
To find out more about Twitter and other social networking techniques,
call us now on 08454 567 760.